POWER PLAY #7

Bring the Pain

You’ve heard the cliché, “No pain, no gain,” and it’s especially true when it comes to presenting. Earlier, we established that the best presentations solve the audience’s problem, but it’s not enough for you to know there’s a problem, nor is it enough for them to know there’s a problem. They need to remember how that problem makes them feel when they’re in the middle of it. When people engage with that pain, some great things happen:

1. They’re motivated to make a change, to embrace a new solution. The reality is that no one likes to change. We like to do what we’ve always done, but we’ll make a change when our current situation becomes painful to some degree. We buy a house or a car, adopt a new piece of technology,
relate differently with our family, stop a bad habit— you name it—when we realize that what we’re doing now isn’t working any more. It’s become too limiting or too difficult, or we think it’s uncool, or we’ve grown beyond it. We don’t just wake up one morning and decide to upset the apple cart on a whim. There’s always some level of pain driving a new decision.

2. They’re in the mood to do something now. Nothing ups the ante like discomfort. The greater the discomfort, the more urgent it becomes to fix the situation. Always keep this in mind when you’re attempting to persuade your audience to take action. The danger in pressing people’s hot buttons is that they may resent it if you’re clumsy. One graceful way to remind people of their pain is to tell a story or use a case study about someone else or another company that experienced the same situation that’s currently troubling members of this audience. Being one degree removed, people are able to listen to data and observations that would be hard to hear if it was about them, and then they begin to identify with the characters in your story, to root for them,and to look for the resolution. Another way is to ask questions, but remember the advice attorneys are always given: don’t ask a
question you don’t already know the answer to. You should already know your audience’s pain, so ask questions that will get them telling you about it. As they tell you about it, it will become more and more real to them, and their feelings will intensify.

Know that you don’t have to rush to divulge the solution.
You’ll be solving the problem in good time, but in the moment, just pay attention to how heightened their motivation and urgency become. As an effective presenter, you’ll allow that to reach its peak, so that the audience is at its most receptive when you throw the lifesaver.